Closure
by Dixie Darlin
Summary: King Candy is dead and gone, but the effects that he had on Vanellope still linger. She can't move on with her new life until she puts the old one behind her forever.


_I wrote this with all the abuse victims of the world in my thoughts. Many times, victims are unable to have full closure because the abuser is dead or unable to be found. Sometimes, if the abuser's whereabouts are known, it might not be safe for the victim to see them or contact them. That doesn't mean that closure is impossible though. Abuse is a thing that happens in the real world and should be treated seriously. It's not a joke.  
_

* * *

**Closure**

Even after spending the whole day on the racetrack with the other racers, getting chosen frequently by gamers due to her being a "new character", Vanellope still had to pinch her side to make sure she wasn't having a grand dream. Each time she went across the finish line, it was as magical as it had been the first time. She placed first numerous times, but other times she didn't. She didn't care though; she was just happy to be on the track and be accepted by the others.

Vanellope had been so preoccupied with her busy day, the whirlwind chain of events of that morning almost a blurry memory in the back of her mind, that she had completely overlooked one detail.

The last gamer had just finished his game, and everyone was chit-chatting around the finish line as they discussed their day and prepared to get ready for the random roster race. Vanellope, being the president, naturally had to be the one to announce it. She had never done anything official in her life (well, except for declaring the kingdom as a constitutional democracy), and she was bursting out the seams with excitement at getting to do something as important as declaring the start of the roster race.

Sour Bill strolled just ahead of her as she practically danced along behind him as they made their way to her podium (_her_ podium!). It was then that her face dropped and her happy demeanor came to a screeching halt. Her stomach felt full of candy rocks and nausea overwhelmed her, prompting her to gently hug her stomach.

The podium (_her_ podium), in fancy cursive red writing, still boasted a very large "KC"...for _King Candy_.

How could she have forgotten that he existed until now?

All the noise faded away as she fixated on those letters, her hands prickling with numbness and her legs growing heavy as if made of lead. Why were his initials still there? She had reset the game, all traces of the evil man's tampering of the land should have been erased.

She blinked and her eyes wandered to the side, then she turned her head down to follow them. The mural, the one in front of the giant popcorn podium that was made with colored lollipops, was still arranged in the form of his face. His stupid, smiling, fake, evil face was on the ground mocking her like he had always done when he was alive.

Something snapped inside Vanellope then. Her shock was replaced with unbridled rage, all her closeted emotions that had been built up from the past fifteen years finally spewing forth as violently as Diet Cola Mountain's eruption.

Vanellope dove into the middle of the mural, her hands grasping into the pink lollipops that composed King Candy's nose and ripping them straight from the ground.

"How dare you!" she screamed as she assaulted the king's face. "How dare you still be here! Leave me alone, you sick coward, I'm just a child! A child! You bullied a child, you should know better! Adults should know better!"

She started kicking at his eyes, dirt flying up as she blinded him. "You psycho, how you dare you come in here and take my life! I didn't do _anything_ to you! I didn't do _anything_!"

Vanellope turned and dove for the mouth, tearing at his lying tongue and breaking all his teeth with heavy stomps. "Why?! Why did you do this to me! _Tell me_! Tell me why you picked me! Why did you ruin _my _life! _Why_!"

Her legs twisted and she fell sideways, sliding a few inches down the gentle slope that the mural was constructed upon. Vanellope laid there for a moment and wept, then gradually picked herself up to sit on her knees. She hunched over and hugged herself tightly, her bangs falling in her eyes and her tears watering the ground beneath her.

"Why?" she croaked quietly, her voice tired from screaming. "I just want to know why…"

A hand grasped her shoulder then, and for the first time in hours, Vanellope glitched involuntarily. She jerked her head up and to the side, cowering out of habit when she saw Taffyta looking down at her. In the past, destroying the mural would have been a capital offense, a sign of anarchy and blasphemy. It took her a second to remember that those days were over, that _she_ was the ruler now, and she had no reason to fear a trip to the Fungeon.

Taffyta's eyes reflected pity, a frown etched in her face. She had, in her defense, been nothing but nice to Vanellope all day, but it would still take time for the once bullied child to fully trust her (or any of the others).

"He did it because he could," Taffyta told her quietly. "He saw that he could get away with it, so he did it."

"But why _me_?" Vanellope still wondered aloud as she used her sleeve to wipe her face. "Was I weak? Was I an easy target back then? I don't even remember him from before…"

"He picked you because you were in charge, Miss President." Sour Bill approached from the side, standing beside Taffyta now. "If Miss Taffyta here had been the princess, he would have chosen her instead. It was all a matter of doing what needed to be done to get him what he wanted. He wanted to race, yes, but he also wanted to be in charge."

Vanellope listened and she dropped her head heavily, closing her eyes. "I'm glad he's dead," she said gravely. "I'm glad he's dead so he can't do this to anyone else."

Taffyta's hand squeezed her shoulder more. "Vanellope, I'm…I'm really sorry. I know I said it earlier, but I just want you to know that I sincerely apologize for treating you like I did."

"I'm sorry too," piped up Candlehead from the back. Vanellope turned her head and saw the entire group of racers piled in a crowd just a few yards away. She had completely forgotten about them being there.

"I was lying when I said Taffyta told me to do everything, I was being a scaredy kit-kat." Candlehead glanced over at Taffyta for a second before looking down at her hands, which she was wringing in front of her. "Sorry, Taff."

"And I'm sorry I said they were just jokes," Rancis sighed, his hands in his jacket pockets. "It's not a joke if someone gets hurts from it."

"I'm sorry too, Vanellope!"

"We're here for you!"

"You can count on us!"

A chorus of apologies and supportive words reached Vanellope's ears, and slowly she felt the light start to slip back inside her. The king was gone, never to be seen or heard from again; she had her life back, and she had friends all around. She thought of Ralph then, her first friend and the one who would always be the dearest to her, hoping he would come to visit after the arcade closed.

She sniffed and picked herself up, Taffyta standing a little bit away to give her some room. Everyone's eyes were on her, and the president allowed herself to smile.

"Miss President, we can always go into the code vault and switch out the letters on the podium," Sour Bill informed her. "Not sure why they didn't reset back to saying VvS."

"Thanks, everyone," she addressed them all with grateful smiles. "All right, enough piddlin' around, let's get this roster race started!"

Everyone cheered as Vanellope bolted up the staircase that led to the top of _her_ podium, Sour Bill audibly panting as he tried to keep up behind her. Once at the top, she sighed in awe as she took in the view, and then tilted her head down to the destroyed mural. All traces of the faux monarch's face were completely obliterated. Even though she hadn't been able to speak directly to her main abuser, she still felt a sense of closure.

_Sugar Rush_ belonged to her. Everything was okay now and always will be. She could feel it in her code.


End file.
